Government may go by rule book to appoint DGP

HYDERABAD: With the High Court staying the Central Administrative Tribunal order, which struck down the appointment of K Aravinda Rao as DGP, the guessing game has once again begun in IPS circles on who the next boss would be.The major implication of the HC order is that the State Government need not write to the UPSC suggesting a panel of names for appointment as DGP and Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy reserves the right to pick a man of his choice.Information emanating from various sources indicated that Aravinda Rao will retire when he attains superannuation this month-end. Neither Rao is inclined to push for an extension nor is the political leadership positively disposed to such an idea. That being so, who will find favour is the question. If highly placed sources are to be believed, Kiran might go by the principle of seniority in which case, the choice will be KR Nandan.It suits the political establishment for more than one reason: One, there is no scope for anyone to go for a legal remedy like it happened when RR Girish Kumar and Aravinda Rao were selected bypassing their seniors. Two, Nandan belongs to Telangana and the government might be comfortable having a police chief from the region which is currently witnessing sustained agitations for statehood. One view is that the government may not write to the UPSC as suggested by the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh case (which was the direction given by CAT as well). The other view is that the government can still do it and yet, have its way since it is in any case giving the post to the senior-most officer who will invariably figure in the panel of names that have to be sent.  But, in case the state government prefers to write to the UPSC, the bureaucratic procedure might go beyond June-end necessitating the appointment of an incharge DGP before the new appointee takes over. Nandan is due to retire in April, 2012.